An inspection apparatus is used for electrical inspection (e.g., a wafer test, a package test or the like) of semiconductor devices (e.g., a chip on the wafer or an IC that has been assembled). The inspection apparatus includes a tester, an electrical connector that is electrically interposed between a test head of the tester and a device to be inspected, and a handling apparatus (e.g., a prober or a handler) that aligns the device to be inspected with respect to the electrical connector and causes the device to be inspected to come in contact with the electrical connector.
The electrical inspection of the semiconductor device includes a conduction test, a DC test, an AC test, a function test and the like. The tester includes a function of applying a current, a voltage, a signal and the like that are necessary for these tests (hereinafter they will also be referred to as a test power supply) and measuring electrical characteristics of the voltage, the current, output signal characteristics and the like at the time they are applied. The tester includes a plurality of channels for the application and the measurement (hereinafter these channels will also be referred to as power supply channels) so that the plurality of semiconductor devices can be simultaneously inspected.
The electrical connector includes, for example, a probe card, an IC socket, a DUT board, an insert ring, a performance board, or a connector in which the functions thereof are combined and integrated with each other.
The probe card is an electrical connector used for a wafer test. The probe card has one surface provided with a connection terminal connected to the test head of the tester directly or via a relaying electrical connector and another surface provided with a plurality of probes that contact electrodes (pads) of the device to be inspected. The plurality of probes then contact the pads so that the test power supply from the tester can be supplied to the semiconductor device.
Furthermore, a probe card including a power supply relay provided therein has been developed. Patent Literature 1 discloses, for example, a probe card including a power supply wiring portion that branches a power supply path from a tester into a plurality of paths and including power supply relays on the respective paths that have been branched. The opening and closing of the power supply relay is controlled by a control mechanism portion so that the IC chip to be inspected can be switched.
Accordingly, the plurality of power supply relays provided in one power supply wiring portion are selectively turned on so that the power supply from one power supply channel is supplied to the plurality of IC chips in turn. It is therefore possible to increase the number of IC chips to be inspected.
Further, a technique that uses a Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) transistor is disclosed as a switch element that can be used for the power supply relay or the like (Patent Literature 2). Patent Literature 2 shows an example of a semiconductor device inspection apparatus capable of arbitrarily switching connections between measurement apparatuses that measure characteristics of semiconductor elements and probe needles connected to external connection terminals of a semiconductor device under a test using a switching matrix LSI formed of MOS transistor elements. In this switching matrix LSI, a plurality of conducting paths connected to the measurement apparatuses and a plurality of conducting paths connected to the probe needles are arranged in the form of a matrix. Further, the switching matrix LSI includes switches that are provided in the respective intersections of the conducting paths and switch ON and OFF, a row/column selection circuit that selects a row to be connected (conducting paths that lead to the probe needles) and a column (a plurality of conducting paths that lead to the measurement apparatuses), a signal line that transmits the output of the row/column selection circuit to the switch, and a column selection circuit that connects the conducting path of the column selected in the row/column selection circuit and the measurement apparatus. A large number of MOS transistor elements are used for the switch, the row/column selection circuit, and the column selection circuit, and the coupling between the probe needle and the measurement apparatus is switched by these MOS transistors.